There’s often a lot of confusion about what it means to “brand” yourself or your company, product or service.  Some people believe branding is something big companies do, or something you can think about once you get “big enough.”  Others get stuck on their brand colors, logo or a jingle, but these people don’t understand what matters most:

1) Your Brand Identity Is EVERYTHING About You…How You Are Perceived By Your Market

And

2) You ARE Your Brand… Either By Default Or Intent!

That second point is mission critical:  You’ve got a brand, a reputation, whether you know it or not.  Just ask your customers!   Is it the message YOU want them to remember? Or is their perception based on a friend of a friend, or a story on TV, or something they’ve just assumed?  Leaving it up to chance is like starting on a trip with no map, no compass and no plan.  As deep philosopher Yogi Berra observed…

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there!”

Your brand either “happens” to you, or you determine to create it decisively, and deliver it strategically in every communication with your market.  Either your brand and message are the same — consistent, congruent and genuine — or they are at odds with each other, like a group of musicians out of tune, just making a lot of noise.

When you have no distinct brand distinction you become a Commodity.  Think corn, eggs, lumber, nails, etc.

People buy commodities based on price.  Brands sell on value.

Most people buy their gasoline at the station with the lowest price.  If your business, products and services are perceived as commodities, you will forever be relegated to the “lowest bid price” as the deciding factor for your customers.  This is a losing battle, especially in this age of globalization when cheap look-alike knockoffs can flood the market within weeks of your new product launch!

So which are you going to be?  A brand…or a commodity?